A
letter
published
last
week
by
the
Vatican
celebrates
what
Pope
John
Paul
II
calls
the
feminine
genius
and
calls
for
women
to
have
access
to
positions
of
national
leadership.
But
the
document
received
a
largely
negative
reception
in
the
mainstream
press
where
it
was
characterized
as
"slamming
feminism."

"Letter
to
the
Bishops
of
the
Catholic
Church
on
the
Collaboration
of
Men
and
Women
in
the
Church
and
in
the
World"
was
issued
by
the
Congregation
for
the
Doctrine
of
the
Faith
and
made
public
on
Saturday.
As
its
title
indicates,
the
letter's
thrust
is
that
women
and
men
have
complementary
roles
to
play
in
the
Church
and
in
society.
The
letter
warns
against
a
tendency
in
"new
approaches
to
women's
issues"
that
make
women
and
men
adversaries
in
a
struggle
for
power.

The
document
is
critical
of
the
idea,
gaining
traction
in
academic
and
public
policy
circles,
that
there
are
no
differences
in
nature
between
the
sexes
and
that
apparent
gender
differences
are
the
result
of
social
conditioning.
"According
to
this
perspective,
human
nature
in
itself
does
not
possess
characteristics
in
an
absolute
manner:
all
persons
can
and
ought
to
constitute
themselves
as
they
like,
since
they
are
free
from
every
predetermination
linked
to
their
essential
constitution."

The
7,000-word
letter
says
that
man
and
woman
were
created
with
differences
that
are
complimentary
and
that
both
family
and
society
benefit
from
feminine
"values."
Chief
among
such
feminine
values
is
what
the
document
calls
the
"capacity
for
the
other"
which
it
defines
as
the
ability
to
"elicit
life,
and
contribute
to
the
growth
and
protection
of
the
other."
While
this
feminine
attribute
is
closely
linked
to
a
woman's
ability
to
bear
children,
the
letter
stresses
that
"this
does
not
mean
that
women
should
be
considered
from
the
sole
perspective
of
physical
procreation."
The
close
link
between
motherhood
and
female
identity
does
not
require
that
a
woman
give
physical
birth,
according
to
the
document.

Women
have
a
special
role
to
play
in
the
life
of
the
family,
the
letter
says,
but
her
sphere
of
influence
ought
not
to
be
limited
to
that
role.
"[W]omen
should
be
present
in
the
world
of
work
and
in
the
organization
of
society,
and
.
.
.
women
should
have
access
to
positions
of
responsibility
which
allow
them
to
inspire
the
policies
of
nations
and
to
promote
innovative
solutions
to
economic
and
social
problems."
The
letter
calls
on
society
to
not
discriminate
against
those
women
who
want
to
work
exclusively
in
the
home
and
to
make
it
possible
for
those
women
"who
wish
also
to
engage
in
other
work
.
.
.
to
do
so
with
an
appropriate
work-schedule,
and
not
have
to
choose
between
relinquishing
their
family
life
or
enduring
continual
stress."

Despite
its
calls
for
women
to
be
treated
equally,
headlines
from
both
the
national
and
international
press
claimed
the
letter
condemned
feminism
and
this
despite
the
fact
that
the
word
"feminism"
never
appears
in
the
text
of
the
document.
Many
reports,
including
the
Washington
Post's,
claimed
that
document
accused
feminism
of
undermining
the
traditional
family
and
paving
the
way
for
homosexual
"marriage."
In
reality
it
is
the
blurring
of
the
differences
between
the
sexes
that
the
letter
said
was
having
this
affect.
"This
theory
of
the
human
person,
intended
to
promote
prospects
for
equality
of
women
through
liberation
from
biological
determinism"
calls
into
question
"the
family,
in
its
natural
two-parent
structure"
and
makes
"homosexuality
and
heterosexuality
virtually
equivalent
.
.
."